Fowles Debby - The Everything Personal Finance in Your 20s & 30s Book: Eliminate your debt, manage your money, and build for an exciting financial future

Introduction

Educating Yourself about Money Matters

Stay Motivated

Luxury Items and Loss of Value

Best Places to Stash Your Cash

The Credit CARD Act of 2009

Avoiding Credit-Repair Scams

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Creative Financing for Your Children

The True Cost of Happiness

Tax Issues Related to Moving

Owning a Co-Op

The Short Sale Alternative

Buying Credit Life Insurance

The Financial Impact of Divorce

Other Issues

Credits and Deductions

Investing in a Low Interest Rate Environment

A Word on Social Security

Estate Taxes

Keep Your Investment Decisions Simple

Appendix B: Internet Resources

I would like to thank my children, Evan, Allison, and Max, for providing me with the inspiration to help future generations become more fiscally fit, and Michele for her love and support.

1. Make the effort to educate yourself about personal finance. Read financial magazines and good financial books and use well-known, reputable sites on the Internet.
2. Budget! Operating without a budget is like driving a car without a steering wheel. You dont have control over where you are headed.
3. Save the pennies, and the dollars will save themselves. Lots of small amounts add up to big savings.
4. Pay cash. If you cant afford to pay cash, maybe you cant afford to buy.
5. Always think about opportunity costs. You may not be paying for something directly, but giving up the opportunity to make money is a real cost.
6. If possible, take savings out of your paycheck before you see it. After a while youll get used to planning your spending on the lower amount, while your savings grow.
7. Be a smart shopper. Dont buy cheap items that wont last and dont pay for bells and whistles that you dont need and wont use.
8. Know how to recognize the warning signs of too much debt, and if you see yourself headed for trouble, act quickly, before you ruin your credit record.
9. Dont go without some type of medical insurance, even if you can only afford a policy with a very high deductible. If you become ill or are injured in an accident, the medical bills could ruin you financially.
10. Remember, most millionaires are just average people who practiced sound financial principles like those in this book. You could be one of them.

BACK IN THE EARLY part of this century, young Americans were growing up in a world where the only message they received about money was how to spend it and acquire as many material items in as short amount of time as possible.

Though the advertising media initiated this message, it was also confirmed by the spending and saving patterns of the baby boomer generationa generation that grew up with parents who served as a counterweight to the advertising media. The baby boomers were told that if you really wanted something, you should save up for it, and that only a fool would go into debt because of unnecessary spending. Sure you might take out a mortgage to buy a home or an automobile if you needed one to get to work, but that was it. The old furniture would do until you saved up to replace it, vacations were just a drive away, and entertainment consisted of visiting with friends and family. In order to get the things they wanted when they were young, the baby boomer generation worked for them.

Then they grew up and adopted the attitude that they deserved to acquire material goods now and worry about paying for them tomorrow. All of a sudden, the world of money changed. Easy credit became available, and saving was a suckers game. Succeeding generations, people who are now in their twenties and thirties like you, entered into a world of buy now and pay (if you can) later.